Tata arrives in Kolkata today

Ratan Tata's 2nd innings in Bengal begins

Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata was in Kolkata on May 18, 2006, the day Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee started his second innings as chief minister of West Bengal, to announce the Nano small car project.

He will again be in Kolkata on Monday, just ahead of Mamata Banerjee's swearing-in ceremony, albeit to 'soft-launch' a smaller project, the cancer hospital at the suburb of Rajarhat.

Though a soft launch, apart from Tata, some directors of Tata Sons, group holding company, and managing directors of key group companies were expected to be present, officials said, while a formal launch of the project was slated for later in the year.

Ratan Tata's 2nd innings in Bengal begins

Calls and text messages made to a Tata Group spokesperson did not elicit any response.

The Group had informed leaders in both the Left Front and its substitute as the ruling grouping, the Trinamool Congress, about the launch, in what could be seen as the first signs of rapprochement with Banerjee.

Tata and Banerjee share a history that dates back to 2006, when she started campaigning against the Nano project at Singur, which ultimately led to Tata Motors relocating the project to Sanand in Gujarat in October 2008.

Ratan Tata's 2nd innings in Bengal begins

The land is still with Tata Motors and the rent for the year was paid before the historic elections in West Bengal that saw the rout of the Left Front.

The total land at Singur was 997 acres, of which the mother plant was spread over 650 acres and the vendor park accounted for 290 acres.

Though Banerjee had said the first file she would sign once she became chief minister was on Singur, this is unlikely to happen soon, going by the lease agreement between Tata Motors and the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation.

Click NEXT to read further. . .

Image: People march in support of Nano factory at Singur.Photographs: Reuters